The Gifted
by baconfries
Summary: 'When you're gifted with something you never wanted, could you even call it a gift.' Eve struggles with trying to fit into a normal life and keeping a tight lid on her powers, but meeting Ain seems to prove that to be more difficult that she believed it would be. Eve x Ain PS: i don't own the image used, all credits go to the owner/artist
1. Chapter 1

Looking into Elsword's scarlet eyes, I am once again reminded of the marriage we were meant to have when we turned 15. Though we are cousins by blood, our marriage was already determined prior to our birth to carry on the bloodline.

We are Water Elementalists. Beings who possess the power to control and wield water as weapons to fight.

Somewhere along the line in the family tree, one of our ancestors fell madly in love with an Air Elementalist. Bringing our families together, their child ended up not only lacking the power of an Air Elementalist, but also having extremely weak Water abilities. The elders back then were pissed off, and decided that no Water Wielder is to marry anyone other than someone of the same ability.

Years later, Hamel City that was back then known as Hamel Village, the village of Water Wielders, fell victim to a horrible fire. The fire burned on for 8 days and 8 nights, exhausting everyone's powers and killing all but three. These three friends had happened to be out of town on a hunting job. What greeted them upon their return was nothing but ash and the smell of burnt flesh. Two of them were my great grandfather and grandmother, and they were only 17 when they had to deal with their entire village disappearing on them.

Left with no choice, they had to rebuild the Water Elemetalist community from scratch. Generations passed where incestuous behavior was not only acceptable, but necessary in the carrying of our bloodline. Cousins and even siblings would be destined to marry before birth, just like I had been with my cousin, Elsword.

* * *

"Eve," my mother's soft voice calls my name from the kitchen, I know exactly what she is about to say and roll my eyes before she even begins.

"You've been studying in the capital for a year now. I haven't bugged you about it but you can't just abandon your destined marriage like this! You can't keep Elsword waiting for you for so many years, dear."

I look at Elsword again. We've talked this over, he knows I don't want to marry him and the feeling is mutual. He just shrugs and looks at me apologetically.

"Mom, it's only for another two years. And who knows, maybe I'll find a handsome Water Wielder in the capital and we can get married instead." Elsword shoots me a scolding look, in which I return to him a smirk.

"A-another man?" Mother exclaims.

"Young lady, I'm telling you, our family is the last of our kind. You know the family rules, no one other than Water Elementalists. You may have other cousins, but Elsword right here is the one you're destined to! Wait till you bring me another Water Wielder, then we'll talk."

* * *

The train back to the capital takes a good 3 hours, more than enough time to catch up on the lack of sleep last night from talking to Elsword.

This isn't right. No matter how distant you are, family is family; I just can't bring myself to overlook that.

A huge sigh escapes me as I look out into the autumn scenery. The leaves have started to be dyed in warm colors by the fading sunlight, as if taking the warmth from the sun itself, signifying the beginning of the cold season. I take my earbuds out of my backpack and drown myself in music, before unknowingly falling asleep on an unfamiliar shoulder.

* * *

"What the," I wake up with a jolt when the train jerks suddenly and a child's scream from a seat nearby fills my ears. The silver haired man next to me, whose shoulder apparently was the one I was leaning on the entire time, jumps in response to my overreaction.

"What the hell. Woman, what's wrong with you?" He glares at me for a second and leans back in his seat, resuming his slumber while leaving me stunned in shock.

Are you shitting me right now? This rude uncultured piece of shit.

I look around wanting to get a change of seats, but since I'm seated by the window, I'll have to get by him first, and I'm not having that again.

I continue sulking for a little while before falling back asleep.

* * *

We arrive at the capital—Elysion. Every time I come back here I'm no less amazed than I am before, I guess it's called the capital for a reason. It is full of high-tech buildings and cars for as far as the eye can see, but also without a lack of nature. Trees of blue, purple and pink leaves are scattered all over the city neatly, giving the entire place a beautiful cool-toned sunset hue. The city is made up of residential areas and suburbs on land, and giant floating altars holding up most of the commercial buildings such as the top schools, government offices, and bigger scaled shopping complexes. Roads leading from the ground up to the altars exceed hundreds, maybe thousands, and are full of floating cars carrying the busy city folk about their days.

The train comes to a complete halt at Elysion Central Station. I gather my items and prepare to leave my seat when I realize the guy from earlier is still asleep.

I flat out gawk at him. I'm not going to deny that he's not bad looking, even more so now that he's asleep and not scowling at me. His silver hair is tinged cyan, and it brings out his irises that I managed to see earlier were of the same color. His crisp, formal looking shirt is turquoise lined with bronze, and his pants and boots are white, once again lined bronze and with turquoise markings on them.

Is that a uniform? It looks pretty damn good on him. If only he didn't have a rotten personality.

I try and wiggle past him to leave my seat and stop dead in my tracks when something grabs me by the arm. I turn to see those cyan eyes piercing me.

"You're an elementalist?"


	2. Chapter 2

"You're an Elementalist?" He's still grabbing my arm, as if without a single intention of letting go.

"I have no idea what you're on about. Do you mind?" I tug my hand from him and he tightens his grip.

"Ow. What the hell is wrong with you? Let me go!" I try not to raise my voice, I really don't want to cause a scene.

"Stop lying. I saw you manipulate water earlier."

Manipulate water? Oh shit, he caught me playing with water while I was spacing out. But wasn't his ass asleep this entire time?

"Look, I get it. You're tired. So am I. You know, I see things too sometimes when I'm dead drained, let's just put this all behind us and-"

"Cut the crap. Why are you trying to hide it?" He snaps at me impatiently. What is up with this guy's temper?

"Dude, I have nothing to hide, I'm an open book. I just wanna go home, y'know," I put my other hand in front of me defensively.  
"I need a break from all this travelling. OH would you look at the time, I really needa-" I try my best to yank my arm back and escape but he pulls me towards him, and I can't help but lose my footing and fall flat on my butt.

"Okay, now you're just being a jerk. What do you want?"

"You're a Water Wielder. Why won't you admit it?" He isn't frowning, but he's pissed, it's showing in his cyan eyes. I don't remember pissing him off?  
Take a damn hint, guy. If I'm not admitting to it I obviously have my reasons, why can't he just respect that?

"For the last time, I have no idea-" Before I can finish my sentence, in one swift movement he raises his hand and waves it to his right, sending a sharp gust of wind that I dodge by jumping back as quickly as I can. The wind cuts through the train seats and I breathe a sigh of relief that we're the only ones left on the train. That wind could've easily killed me or cut off a limb.

"What do you think you're doing?" I yell as he looks me dead in the eye.

"Not anyone could've dodged my Blades. You're not just any water wielder, you're a Hamel City Water Elementalist."

"Hey, hey. Whoa. Who the heck do you think you are and what do you think you're doing? Who I am and where I'm from doesn't have anything to do with you."

"You didn't deny the fact that you were from Hamel City, so it's true that you're one of them? That would explain your power." What kind of one-sided conversation is this?

"Look, I really have to go, I don't know what you're high on but I suggest-"

"You were staring off into space while playing idly with a drop of water. I've seen people who wield water and know how hard it is to be able to control such a small volume of water without dropping or losing it. That kind of precision even when you're not focused? There's no way you're just a low leveled water wielder."

I stare at him in disbelief. What kind of idiot drops one fucking drop of water?  
Back home we train every day from infanthood till whenever. I only got let off the hook because I said I wanted to study more spells in the capital and had surpassed most of my family already, so there wasn't anyone left to train me. I wanted to keep all this elementalist shit lowkey and have a shot at normal life, why did I have to bump into this jerk.

"Nothing to say? Let's take this outside. Materialize: West Wind, Zephyrus." He says and before I can react, I feel myself being carried away by a strong gust of wind. He's considerately carrying along all my belongings, I'm impressed.

I'm literally blown out the window with all my stuff and he follows behind swiftly, but in flight. So he's an Air Elementalist. This is the first time I'm seeing an Elementalist other than my family, hence the first time I'm seeing any other elemental abilities. But he can use Materialize too? So it's not just a water wielder thing. I start to feel curious about this new side of Gifts that I had never been exposed to before, but before I can think about it any further, the wind takes me off the floating platform that is the train station and I'm suddenly more than 200 feet up in the air.

"Where are you taking me?!" I freak out, close to losing my shit.

He doesn't respond and the wind takes me higher, making me die a little more inside. We finally get to a larger, or rather, an even more enormous floating platform, and we head towards one of the structures nearby. The wind sets me down gently on a grass field that looks like a large yard, and there is a vine-covered brick building next to us that looks like a block of expensive apartments.

"Zephyrus, you didn't have to be so gentle." He says as he lands on his two feet with a little breeze, like a floating feather settling on the grass. The wind disperses and I'm sitting on the ground looking at him.

"Where am I? What on earth am I doing here?"

"You're going to fight me." He says indifferently.

"Me. Fight, you. And why would I want to do that." Somewhere at the back of my head I'm dying to fight him, but I can't expose my Gift here.

"Secret's out, no point in trying to hide it." Once again, before I get a chance to respond, he lashes out his wind blades at me again and I dodge, not wanting to lose an arm or a leg.

"Dude, I'm not going to fight you. I just want to go home, my cat's waiting for me. What is wrong with you?" He ignores me and continues his relentless attacks, not holding back. I can't keep dodging like this or I'll run out of stamina and he knows that. He's waiting for me to lose it and fight him or defend myself with my abilities.

There's no way I'm giving in to his shit.


	3. Chapter 3

"Will you be alright, not defending yourself or returning any attacks?" He asks. Is that a smirk? Son of a bitch, he's really trying to get me to use my abilities, isn't he.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I'm not an Elementalist." I respond between dodges, slowly starting to lose momentum. He knows I'm getting tired and increases the speed of his blades. One of them gets way too close for comfort and before I know it, I'm on the ground, out of breath and fully aware that I will be unable to dodge his next attack.

I gape wide-eyed at him, completely vulnerable as a blade of wind heads towards me almost too-quickly. In an instant, I'm close to using one of my spells but hold back until I really have no choice.

The blade of wind speeds up and I close my eyes, preparing to cast a spell to turn my body into water, before it suddenly disperses right in front of my face.

Opening my eyes skeptically, I see him click his tongue and glare at me before turning away, leaving me on the grass. A sigh escapes me, I was this close to casting a spell and exposing my Gift. I get back on my feet and am about to pick my stuff up. In an instant, my arm is raised and I block another wind blade with a wall made of water.

"Construct: Wall." I say with my heart in my mouth, almost caught off guard. He has the smuggest look on his face and it makes me want to punch him.

"Able to use Construct to make something so large so quickly? I knew you were no ordinary water wielder. Since your secret's out, why not fight me?" He smirks again and looks me in the eye, his eyes look dangerous and I know I don't have a choice.

I crack my knuckles and return a fake smile to him, "Very well, then. Since you're forcing me." I stand facing him, close my eyes and take a deep breath, stretching one hand in front of me and bringing it upwards.

"Materialize: Water Deity, Mizuchi" Water starts to seep up from the ground and collects into the shape of a serpent-like figure. It doesn't take long for Mizuchi's form to be complete, and in a matter of seconds a blue-green dragon about the height of an average man with gleaming scales stands between us.

"Eve, it has been a while. I am glad to be of service to you on this day." Mizuchi says without opening his mouth. I've always wondered how they did that.

"Thanks Mizuchi, it's good to see you too!" I smile at the dragon.

"Pfft. What a tiny dragon. Is that supposed to defeat me?" He snorts. What a piece of shit.  
"Materialise: South Wind, Notos." He has more than one wind god?

Out of nowhere a young looking teenage boy starts to take form, his dark orange, almost red hair and dark green robe flapping about furiously in the wind. His scarlet eyes look playful as the rest of his body start to take form.

"Cute. Am I fighting you?" He says as he smiles a cheeky grin and I can't help but feel intimidated. The Gods start fighting each other and I can tell that Notos is without a doubt of a higher level than Mizuchi, because he is able to keep up with his attacks but is mainly on the defense.

"Will your dragon be okay? He seems to be struggling a little." The smug look on his face still hasn't disappeared. I clench my fist. My not expecting him to have such a high leveled God had put Mizuchi into such a tough spot, I need to call for someone else.

"Mizuchi, are you okay?" I ask as he falls to the ground with a thud, while Notos still stands tall.

"I am fine. You leave me no choice but to change form." Mizuchi's voice resonates as his scales slowly start turning a bluish purple and is surrounded by a dark red smog. Mizuchi's Poison Dragon form.

Without hesitation, Mizuchi flings himself forward towards Notos, knocking him back. The teenage-boy-god remains standing and chuckles, having taken no damage.

"Boy, are you certain that you should remain in laughter?" Mizuchi says, watching Notos, still smiling as the red smog surrounds him. Suddenly, the teenage boy starts screaming as the poison enters his bloodstream. Even though they are gods, when materialized, they are given a physical body and experience pain, but will slowly recover after they are dematerialized.

The boy falls onto the ground in a fetal position and Mizuchi steps aside. Knowing the battle is over, he switches back to his original color and to his human form as he stands upright. In human form, he retains his original color in his black hair that is slightly tinged green, and his bluish green eyes. He stands looking at Notos on the ground, who has fallen unconscious.

"Can you believe it?! Someone defeated the Ain's Notos!"

"No way, who's that girl?"

"She doesn't go here!"

"Would you look at that? I never would've thought." I hear his voice after what feels like a long time and turn my attention back to him with an extremely confused look on my face.

"Where are we?" I realize now that I hadn't been given any information whatsoever by him, not even his name.

"This is Fluone Academy. You're trespassing on the dorms." He says bluntly, the smirk on his face returned.

"Trespassing! But you're the one who-"

"Thank you, Notos." He dematerializes the teenage boy, and with a slight breeze he disperses into the air himself while I'm left standing smack in the middle of a grass field with a man wearing a suit.

"Hey! You there! Don't move!" I hear other men's voices getting closer from a distance, it sounds as if they are in a pretty large group.

"You're shitting me." I mutter under my breath as they pass through an arch to where we are standing, and I realize that the entire area is now surrounded by either guards or bystanders, probably students of the academy.

"Restrain them! They're dangerous!" One of the men yell as a group of four men head towards me with what looks like big, clunky ability-restraining handcuffs. From the corner of my eye I see some girls talking animatedly to the guards, possibly reporting the fight between the scumbag and myself.

I raise both my hands in front of me, "Hi, I don't want any trouble. I just want to go home and feed my cat."

"Take her to the principal! Restrain the man too!" The men grab me by the shoulders and cuff my hands, I have never been more humiliated in my life. I turn my head to see them cuffing Mizuchi, he doesn't struggle, knowing it won't do us any good.

"Mizuchi, you should go. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be fine."

"You sure?" He asks, cocking his head to a side. His mouth moves now that he's in human form, and his speech always becomes so much more casual. Somehow it's the same with most of the gods I materialize.

"Yeah, I'm sure. I don't want to drag you into this too."

"I don't want you to be alone. I'm staying with you." He responds and I smile, before being dragged off by the guards with hundreds of pairs of eyes staring at us.


End file.
